The Pistolwhippers Captain and jammer Lazer Beam
fights her way to the front of the pack.
(Photo credit Scott Lipiec)

Detroit, MI  (February 19, 2013) - The Detroit Derby Girls are narrowing

the field of championship teams as they prepare for the seventh and eighth

games of their home season.

Michigan’s nationally ranked, premier female roller derby league takes to

the flat track at 6 p.m. March 2 at the Detroit Masonic Temple and will

feature two bouts with four of the league’s five teams.

In the first bout, the undefeated, championship-bound Grand Prix Madonnas,

will face off against the Pistolwhippers. This will be the GPMs final

regular season bout before the championships, which they’ve already

secured a spot in.

“The GPMs want to go undefeated,” said Captain Spanish Ass’assin.

The Pistolwhippers have yet to win a game this season, but they’re hoping

this is the one.

The Devil’s Night blockers Dizzy Devine
 and Detroit Pistoffs Cookie Rumble
 battle it out on the track.
 (Photo credit Matthew
Stocker)

“This bout is very important for the Pistolwhippers because we are looking

for our first win of the season,” said Captain Lazer Beam.

In the second bout, the Devil’s Night Dames will battle the The Detroit

Pistoffs. Both teams have won one and lost one bout and are looking to

break the tie.

Tensions are rising ... at least in one derby home.

“This bout is super important to me because my husband, Dr. Rocktopus

(coach for the Dames), is planning to duct tape me to a chair on bout day

so I can’t play,” said Kraken Whips, co-captain for the Pistoffs, and a

voracious player.

We think she’s joking, but the will to win for both teams is very high.

“We’re in it to win it,” said Dames co-captain Feta Sleeze. “We got our

first win in two years this year and we’re ready for another one.”

Some may remember derby from when it was popular in the 70s. As it has

emerged in its current comeback, there is still plenty of hard hitting and

entertainment, but it is a much more competitive, athletic sport than the

theatrical version of the  past.

The Detroit Derby Girls travel team is ranked fifth in the national

Women’s Flat Track Derby Association - North Central Division. Skaters

live throughout southeastern Michigan.

Tickets are available now at brownpapertickets.com for just $15 each.

Tickets bought after Monday, Feb. 25, or at the door, are $18. Halftime

will feature live music and games for kids.

The bout will take place at the Masonic Temple Drill Hall, 500 Temple

Street, Detroit, MI 48201.

The after party will be at The Majestic, 4140 Woodward, Detroit. Entry is

free with a derby ticket stub.

For more information, visit www.DetroitDerbyGirls.com.

  Woodward Avenue Brewers & Detroit Derby Girls Present Bout Stout
Woodward Avenue Brewers have created a special beer inspired by the Detroit Derby Girls.

   Bout Stout is a Russian Imperial Stout, with an alcohol volume of 8.5 percent it's dark and hard hitting, just like DDG.

   The Bout Stout launch party will be held at WAB at 7 p.m. Feb. 15.

   Beer and derby lovers will able to taste the new beer and party with the DDG AllStars A team
who will be at the event after the team bouts against the Milwaukee's Brew City Bruisers in a
closed game.

   The league's B team, Motor City Disassembly Line, will also be there serving up $1 shots of Bout
Stout.

   This is the second beer WAB has been inspired to make for DDG.

  “Our first beer with WAB was the Detroit Maiden IPA, so it's great to continue the tradition of
WAB custom brew for DDG with Bout Stout,” said DDG President Tina Iulianelli, aka Tiny Ninja
(Tinja).

   Detroit Maiden IPA will also be available at the party.

   Tinja said DDG often partners with WAB to pour beer at events and host after parties. WAB also
sells tickets to DDG bouts.

   Tinja said the DDG inspired beers came from that close relationship and this launch party will be
another great time.

   “We are excited to bring the girls from Brew City to Detroit and its a great opportunity for people
who have never been to a derby bout, or always wanted to meet and mingle with the Detroit
Derby Girls,” Tinja said. “We want to people to have fun and try the new beer.”

   There will be door prize drawings for DDG souvenirs, tickets and prizes from our sponsors, as
well as DDG merchandise for sale. There is no cost to attend the event.

   Woodward Avenue Brewers is located at 22646 Woodward Avenue, Ferndale, MI 48220. They
can be reached at 2485463696.

   For more information about DDG, visit www.DetroitDerbyGirls.com.
   For more information about the WAB, visit www.thewabsite.com

Pekka Rinne #35 of the Nashville Predators makes a glove save in front of Tomas Holmstrom #96 of the Detroit Red Wings in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Joe Louis Arena on April 17, 2012. PHOTO COURTESY OF REDWINGS,NHL.COM

After 16 hours of marathon talks and on the 113th day of a management lockout, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and union head Donald Fehr announced a tentative agreement to end the lockout which has eliminated roughly half of the season.

The deal comes just in time as hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pro hockey fans are losing interest in the sport.

Bettman didn’t disclose details of the pact but said on Sunday that “...the basic framework of the deal has been agreed upon.”

The lockout led to cancellation of 480 games. During Bettman’s 10 years as commissioner, there has been three labor disputes, eliminating 2,178 regular season games.

The deal must be ratified by the 30 team owners and 740 players.

Players conceded early in the talks, which began in June, that they would accept a smaller percentage of revenue that goes toward salaries and benefits and the talks were about how much less was acceptable.

At best, there will be 48 to 50 regular season games played in 2013, depending upon when the tentative pact is ratified. Still, the lockout likely will wipe out $1 billion in revenue for what should have been the 2012-13 season.

In Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, hockey is a big deal. The same can be said for American cities such as Detroit, Boston, Chicago and New York — part of the original NHL teams before expansion. The same is not true for expansion teams such as Nashville, San Jose, Phoenix, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Carolina where many are no longer fans of the generally exciting, fast and punchy sport.

If the strike wiped out the rest of this season, it’s a high probabilityx it could have killed the league. That would have been tragic to many besides Detroit’s Red Wing fans.

Marc Ganis, president of a Chicago-based sports consulting firm, said players and management “didn’t hear a hue and cry from the fans, especially in the United States, when hockey wasn’t played.”

Well, both sides better start listening to the fans because there’s a lot of apathy toward the NHL, unlike the NFL and even Major League Baseball.

The NHL’s revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL’s $9 billion, Major League Baseball’s $7.5 billion and the NBA’s $5 billion.

The tentative 10-year NHL contract will lower the hockey players’ share of revenue from 57 percent to 50 percent with owners getting the other 50 percent.

Let’s hope everyone focuses on what’s happening on the ice again or the sport founded in 1917 won’t last another decade.

By Dave Herndon
Twitter: @NHDaveH


Johnny Manziel made history Saturday night when he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in the 78-year history of the award.
The Texas A&M quarterback scored 43 total touchdowns en route to more than 4,600 total yards on the season.
"This is a moment that I've dreamed about since I've been a kid running around the backyard pretending I was Doug Flutie throwing Hail Marys to my dad," Manziel said after being named the winner.
Manziel likely sealed the trophy when he led the Aggies to an upset victory over then top-ranked Alabama.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

By Scott Salowich

In lieu of celebrating a trip to a bowl game, Ohio State chose to honor notorious former head football coach Jim Tressel and those members of his glorious 2002 national championship team that are not currently in stir during the season-ending game against Michigan.

What a wonderful moment.

Give a guy a second chance, I say. This is America, after all, which we know because (like Nixon, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Colson and all the other Watergate criminals) Tressel prominently displays the American flag on his chest whenever he is allowed to leave the home.

Ooops, wait a sec.

Ohio State was Tressel's second chance after his criminality was exposed at Youngstown State.
What the hell? Give a guy a third chance I always say.

I'm sure Buckeye fans of all species found tears in their eyes (or whatever other ocular organs they may possess) when Tressel and his ankle-tethered legions return to the scene of their greatest accomplishments for a 10th anniversary bow.

The fact that the warden has ordered that many of them have their shoelaces taken away could have been viewed as a mini-tribute to Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson but, given the magnitude of this event, I think it's unfair that Michigan was not allowed to play a bigger role in the festivities.

Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski earned a PhD from Ann Arbor and would have been a fit for a halftime handshake at the 50 with St. Jim.

Reports are that such a ceremony was in the works until somebody down there decided that it would be tough to keep Ted away from the tuba that the guy who won the chug-a-lug contest at OSU band camp in June held while he famously "dotted the 'i' in script Ohio" before the game.

It would have been a real shame if that thing had gone kablammo and left a divot in the turf that a kick returner may have tripped on.